Coolock

Artificial Mound

Coolock (Artificial Mound) on The Modern Antiquarian, the UK & Ireland's most popular megalithic community website. 5 images, 1 fieldnote, 1 piece of folklore, plus information on many more ancient sites nearby and across the UK & Ireland.

Images (click to view fullsize)

Fieldnotes

Now here's a thing: I couldn't get access to this as it's on the grounds of a chocolate factory! I was told by the security guard that I might get permission and be given a guided tour if I came back the following day, Monday.
Here's another thing: There is no mention of this in Tom Fourwind's book on prehistoric Dublin and I had never heard of it until reading Joseph E. Doyle's Ten Dozen Waters: The Rivers and Streams of County Dublin. Indeed, there it sits not 20 metres from the Santry river, just before it flows under the Malahide road. Doyle calls it a tumulus. It is mentioned on the Wikipedia page for the Santry river and it is on the archaeology.ie National Monuments database, number DU015-074-, added by Geraldine Stout no less.
So why isn't it more widely known? It's right there, less than a stone's (cough) throw from one of the busiest roads in the north suburbs.

Folklore

When I first mentioned the Cadbury mound to my Auntie Bridie, she recounted a story from the 1950s about a man suffering a heart attack while felling one of the trees that grew upon it. This was attributed to the fairies taking retribution. More recently, I came across an account of a man who dug the 'fairy mound' and broke his leg. Another version of this tale tells of a strange face that appears under the branches of one of the trees at Hallowe'en and is thought to be that of a man who attempted to dig the mound and went missing that night. That these 'suburban myths' persist reveals much about local people's regard for the past.